Max Barry–”Succeeding in Business Through Marketing Fads” (maxbarry.com, 2000)

SOUNDTRACK: LEMONHEADS-Varshons (2009). This is a Lemonheads covers album.  The amazing thing about this covers album is that mot of the originals are quite unknown (heck I didn’t even recognize some of the artists).  But he manages to put a good Lemonheads spin on most of them (the  later country/folk Lemonheads style) and it makes for [...]

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Three: “Just Desserts” (2010)

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-The Double Cross (2011). Sloan never fail to make enjoyable punky pop songs.  Surely it has something to do with having four songwriters in the band (which must minimize clunkers).  I can never decide who my favorite songwriter of the group is as they all do fairly varied work. “Follow the Leader” is a [...]

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Mindy Kaling–Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: THE DIVINE COMEDY-BANG goes the Knighthood (2010). I’ve really enjoyed The Divine Comedy since their earliest Michael Nymanesque music.  I loved the orchestral pop that Neil Hannon seemed to effortlessly create.  His last few records have been less exciting to me.  He has toned down the orchestration and made his songs more subtle.  They’re still [...]

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Etgar Keret–”Creative Writing” (New Yorker, January 2, 2012)

SOUNDTRACK: DANKO JONES-Below the Belt (2010). I love Danko Jones.  He’s bad, he’s cruel, he’s crass and he rocks.  He’s everything a 15 year-old boy loves in rock.  And yet there’s something about him that even I (far older than 15) think is wonderful (perhaps he’s the thinking man’s Andrew W.K.?).  I’m sure it’s because his [...]

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Roberto Bolaño–Third Reich (2011) [written 1989]

SOUNDTRACK: THE SWELL SEASON-Strict Joy (2009). I bought this disc for Sarah after it came out.  I didn’t think that I would enjoy it that much because while I loved the movie Once, I wasn’t sure if I needed more from Glen and Marketa.  But then I found a whole slew of free concerts from [...]

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Grantland Quarterly Issue 1 (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: BABE THE BLUE OX-”Basketball” (1998). This was the first song I’d ever heard from Babe the Blue Ox, and I was hooked (sadly, The Way We Were, where this song is from was their last album).  This is also my favorite songs about sports (and it will never be played in an arena). It opens with [...]

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–A Very Babymouse Christmas (#15) (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: unknown artist-”The 12 Days of Christmas” (2011?). I’ve heard this version of the 12 Days of Christmas twice.  Once in Ulta and once on the show New Girl (in the Christmas episode, where Jess and her friend are (ew) sitting on the floor in the bathroom, you can hear it faintly behind them). This is a very intriguing [...]

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John G. Richardson and Carl H. Simpson–”Children, Gender, and Social Structure: An Analysis of the Contents of Letters to Santa Clause” (Child Development, 1982, Issue 53)

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN ZORN-”Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (2011). Wild skronking horns, screamed vocals, chaos chaos cha–.  No. Piano and vibraphones with some gentle guitars thrown on top.  This is a beautiful, gentle jazz rendition of this song.  What makes this so strange is well, frist, because John Zorn loves death metal and all things noise.  But [...]

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Frederic Miller–”The Tragedie of Frosty the Snowman” (Mississippi Review, Summer 2001)

SOUNDTRACK: COCTEAU TWINS-”Frosty the Snowman” (1993). Cocteau Twins released Snow, a ”holiday” EP in 1993.  Their version of “Winter Wonderland” is quite sublime.  This version of “Frosty the Snowman” on the other hand is a bit…off. I don’t know if the tempo is too fast (I think that may be it), or if the lyrics are [...]

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Nathan Englander–”What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” (New Yorker, December 12, 2011)

SOUNDTRACK: LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA-Angry Birds Theme (2011). My son, Clark, loves Angry Birds.  I’ve played it a few times and found it enjoyable, but he is obsessed.  He is absolutely the target market for this song.  And who knows maybe it will get him to like classical music. I wasn’t sure if I’d recognize the [...]

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